Bourne fire lieutenant probe sparks town rift

BOURNE — A rift has opened between the fire department and town officials over the handling of an investigation into a high-ranking department official earlier this year.

MATTHEW M. BURKE

BOURNE — A rift has opened between the fire department and town officials over the handling of an investigation into a high-ranking department official earlier this year.

The rift has caused one town official to threaten the firing of fire department personnel who talk to the media and has left department officials feeling frustrated as town officials refuse to disclose the matter to the public.

Officials from the Bourne Professional Fire Fighters Union confirmed this week that they voted overwhelmingly to send a letter of no confidence regarding fire Lt. Kelli Weeks and Town Administrator Thomas Guerino to the board of selectmen in May.

The letter was sent via certified mail and was addressed to the board of selectmen, said union president Penny Fusco, The letter was signed for, and the union has a receipt. In addition, a copy was hand-delivered to town hall.

But several selectmen told the Times this week that they had not seen the letter and knew nothing about it.

Fusco would not say what was contained in the letter, only that it regarded Weeks and the same issues that led her to be investigated by the Bourne police earlier this year.

Fusco said that Weeks has hired an attorney and has threatened to sue the union, so she declined to comment further.

No charges have been filed against Weeks, 33, town officials have said, and they've refused to disclose the nature of the police investigation.

Guerino said this week that the letter was given to selectmen earlier this year during an executive session regarding Weeks. A Cape Cod Times public records request for the minutes to that meeting, made in mid-August, was denied by Guerino. It was appealed to Secretary of State William Galvin's Public Records Division, but the decision was upheld in late September.

In a phone call to the Times on Monday, Guerino requested the names of the Times' sources in the case, a request that was declined. He suggested he planned to fire anyone who provided what he called incorrect information to the Times regarding the case and named Bourne firefighter Richard Doherty specifically as possibly being one of the Times' sources.

The Times called Doherty, who declined to comment on Guerino's statement. Doherty later was hospitalized for anxiety and high blood pressure, according to union officials. Doherty is out pending a doctor's review.

Fusco declined to provide a copy of the no-confidence letter. The Times' public records request for the letter from selectmen in September was denied by Guerino. The decision was then appealed to Galvin's office, where it is currently under review.

Fusco could not recall how many members were at the meeting when the no-confidence vote was taken, but she said it was "well attended" and only one member voted against sending the letter. She said there are 37 members in the union, 13 of whom are needed for a quorum.

Town officials never responded to the letter, she said.

"I think everybody in town has heard the gist of what this scenario is," Fusco said about the investigation into Weeks. "It's been going on for so long, I'm glad it's coming out."

Town counsel Robert Troy of Sandwich has ruled that the no-confidence letter is "sequestered," Guerino said. He did not dispute the union's statements regarding the letter but declined to comment further.

When polled this week, selectmen either argued about what was contained in the letter or denied they knew about it.

Chairman John Ford said he vaguely remembered seeing a union letter regarding Weeks but that it was not a "no-confidence vote" and did not mention Guerino. Don Pickard and Mary Meli both said emphatically that they had never seen such a letter. Jamie Sloniecki declined to comment, and Stephen Mealy could not be reached for comment.

"I have never seen such a letter," Meli said. "I assumed one would be given to me if one existed."

Meli also said Guerino's comments about firing people who talk to the Times were ill advised.

Weeks did not return messages left for her at the department, and nobody answered at her parents' Attleboro home.

The Times made a public records request for documents involving the police investigation in mid-August, but the request was denied by police chief Earl Baldwin.

The Times appealed the decision to Galvin's office, and was told last week that the state's supervisor of public records had requested the police documents for review before deciding if the Times can obtain them.

Acting Bourne Fire Chief Dan Doucette did not return messages left for him this week seeking comment.